hrghlrghts and oxerrules therr class and drfferences, It l.‘, a relatronshrp that e/entually turns sexual and [XV/(,frffllC,

Pawel Par/lrkovskr's lovely. lust ,' sun» drenched follow up to (be Last Resort lPllllflr rs actuallj, a yer; loose adaptatron of Helen ()rr ss' popular novel of the same name. But Pawlrkowskr has basrcallv gutted (Lross' tale of young lesbian love set against the background of the mrners' strrke rn 108/1 and refashroned rt rnto a vrbrant. atmospherrc. tellrng. slrght. clever and funny character drama that rs rrnbued wrth sprrrt of Nret/sche. Freud and great C/eclroslovakran frlrnmaker Jrrr lvferr/el rpartrcularlv hrs Caprrcrous Summer from 1968).

My Summer of Love rs not half as rntellectuallv stolrd as thrs rather self- rrrrportant frlmmaker seems to thrnk rt rs. but rt rs a sublrrne work that draws out of rts remarkable leads some envrable performances. Press and Blunt are faultless. as rs the ever dependable Consrdrne. Unfortunater Pawlrkowskr messes up the endrng by cow-rtowrng to hrs worst lrberal rnstrncts rather than the Janscoesgue sense of hurnrlratron and aesthetrc rrgour he has managed to rnarntarn throughout the film's frnal sectron.

Ultrmatelv though thrs rs a rare. cogent. powerful. rntellrgent lrttle frlrn from a major crnematrc talent.

(Paul Dale) I Selected release from Frr 22 Oct. See rntervrerrv. page 45.

HORROR REVISITED EXORCIST:THE BEGINNING (15) 113min o

When Rennv Harlrn rnherrted thrs rll- fated E yore/st prolect from Paul Schrader (whose yersron was TGJQCIGG by productron company MOrgan Creek fer not berng scary enough). he stated hrs rntentrons clearly: 'I wanted to make rt so that rf you watch thrs rpreguel‘» and then watch The Etortrrst. the ongrhal naturally follows. as rf rt were the seguel.‘ Admrrable ambrtron or fOOIISh confrdence’? The latter, rt transprres. Not ey en Stellar: Skarsgard's Quretly rntense pOrtrayal of the y’OLlng Lankester Merrrrr. an ex-prrest turned alcohoer archaeologrst adrrft rn colonral

E’ifib‘mo NEVERLAND (PG) 101 min 0...

London at the turn of the 20th century, and the playwright JM Barrie (Johnny Depp) is struggling with his muse. His last few plays have been flops and his producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman) is almost ready to throw the towel in. Then by chance one day he meets society widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her adorable. if unruly, brood of children. Through them he becomes inspired to write a new kind of play for kids and adults. The first is about a flying boy, a suburban family and a magical place called Neverland.

Director Marc Monster’s Ball Foster's retelling of the genesis of the stage play Peter Pan is remarkable in that it manages to present an amalgam of the process of creativity while totally avoiding the usual cliches (pounded typewriters, stubs in ashtrays, close-ups of sweat-stained brows, that kind of thing). Instead we are allowed to follow Barrie’s life away from a bitterness of his married life with Mary Barrie (Radha Mitchell) and into the fantastical play life with the Davies kids - where Saint Bernard dogs turn into bears and stiff three-piece suits become pirate bodices and cutlass holders. The inspiration floods over the man once he starts hanging out with George. Jack, Peter and Michael, and even their staunch granny Du Maurier (Julie Christie) mutates into a hooked handed pirate in front of his eyes.

Singer and screenwriter David Magee (adapting Allan Knee’s popular play) have fashioned something that is genuinely informative, moving, fun and magically real. Whatever the truth about Barrie's relationship with the Davies family and the ‘lost boys‘, in particular this version of the truth, seems strangely right considering the by-products of Barrie‘s friendship. Depp yet again is remarkable (if a little too handsome) as Barrie, and he might just succeed in making sexy again the Edinburgh accent (which is incidentally note perfect). Winslet as the unconventional mother fighting the gossip of high society is excellent but it is child actor Freddie Highmore (so very annoying in Five Children and It) who steals the show as Peter Llewellyn Davies, the temperamental child who just wants his dad back. His is a performance that puts most of his actor contemporaries (young and old) to shame. Most closely comparable to Gavin Miller/Dennis Potter’s excellent 1985 film Dream Child (about the relationship between Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll), this is a pleasing, old-fashioned tearjerker and a half. Pack a couple of hankies. (Paul Dale)

I General release frorrr Frr 2S) Oct.

East Afrrca rn 19119. can save thrs sorry mess. OstenSrbly a study of Merrrn's rediscovery of hrs relrgrous farth, rt confronts Skarsgard's lapsed man of the cloth wrth a drabolrca! conundrum. The uncOVerrng of a Byzantrne Chrrstran church reveals a Pagan srte of human sacnfrce beneath. It also unleashes a terrrble evrl. drrvrng Merrrn's predecessor mad. re'rderrng local boy Joseph catatonrc. and rncrtrng a bloody rnsurrectron by the frrghte'red Turkana people. Eager young Vatrcac-trarned prrest Father Fra'fcrs rJames D'Arcv wonders aloud: the legend true"? That after the war rn heaven. thrs the place where LuCrfer fell to Earth.‘ Leavrng aSIde the folly of makrng a preguel to erlram Frredkrh's 1973 horror claSSrc. thrs falls on every Nrnety mrnutes of tedrOuS exposnaoc. grve to a random jumble of horror cerhes that rrse to a shrrll prtch of hysteria. At no pen: :5 It ever remote‘y frrghtenrng. Surely Schrader's versr0n rnow slated for release on DVD rr‘ January 2005' must haye been bette' than thrs. rNrger Floyd. I General release from Frr 29 O::.

SEXUAL POLlTlCS .‘APfgi SHE HATE ME (15) 138min «o

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.7' 2'," -‘- 2731 THE LIST 47